TEGNA tips off WNBA's Fever broadcast network in 12 Midwest markets

When the Caitlin Clark-led Indiana Fever host the Atlanta Dream on May 20, WNBA fans both locally and nationally will have plenty of options for viewing the games amid various new rights deals.

The games will air nationally on NBA TV, the payTV network owned by the league. They will also be available on the out-of-market subscription streaming service WNBA League Pass. For those in the Fever's home TV territory, viewers can watch the action on a network of local stations.

For the second consecutive season, TEGNA Inc.s WTHR in Indianapolis will serve as the anchor for the Fever broadcast network. Several stations will air 18 of the club's games in 11 additional Midwest markets that collectively reach some 4.6 million households across the region. TEGNA's Fever network games come from the pool of non-exclusive contests that air on NBA TV, Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video, CBS Sports Network (US) and League Pass across the season.

Last season, the Fever aired 15 games. Two more were scheduled but instead aired on WNBA national outlets. Although he did not specify viewership, Brad Ramsey, TEGNA's senior vice president of media operations, said WTHR significantly outperformed all national outlets head-to-head relative to Fever audience delivery in Indianapolis.

In addition to WTHR and WALV in Indianapolis, TEGNA has several other stations in the Fever network: WHAS in Louisville, Kentucky; WOI and KCWI in Des Moines; and WQAD in Davenport, Iowa. Gray Media Inc. also has four stations with WXIX in Cincinnati; WPTA and WISE in Fort Wayne, Indiana; WFIE in Evansville, Indiana; and WKYT in Lexington, Kentucky.

The other Fever affiliates come from numerous other broadcast station owners.

Strong start

Ramsey expects strong viewership, with Clark's second season already off to a strong start.

The Fever's May 17 contest against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky averaged 2.7 million viewers on ABC (US), marking the largest WNBA regular season audience since Memorial Day 2000. It also represented the league's second-largest audience of any kind over that span, trailing only 2024's WNBA All-Star Game, which attracted 3.44 million viewers.

To put the number in perspective, it is just shy of the 2.8 million ABC averaged for its NBA Saturday Primetime package during the regular season and surpasses every Major League Baseball game so far this season, including an unusually strong Mets-Yankees game Sunday night that averaged 2.54 million on ESPN.

Indiana's blowout win, which peaked with 3.1 million viewers, also topped all four meetings of the Sky and Fever last season — the most-watched of which was a late June 2024 matchup on ESPN that drew 2.3 million.

Prior to Clark being drafted, no WNBA telecast had hit the million viewer mark since 2008.

Fan, advertiser interest

Ramsey said that for the second straight year, TEGNA was able to negotiate directly with the league and open up the state through its stations in Des Moines and Davenport, Iowa.

"It was really successful last year. Fans are really excited and we've been in market with sponsors and advertisers a little earlier this time," he said. "The interest is higher than last year."

Clark, the NCAA's all-time leading scorer, led the Iowa Hawkeyes to the finals of the NCAA Women's March Madness tournament in 2024 and 2023, setting a bevy of women's basketball viewership records for rights holder Walt Disney Co. and its ABC and ESPN (US) properties in the process.

In addition to the Fever, TEGNA holds primary local rights to the WNBA Dallas Wings, the NBA Dallas Mavericks, NHL Seattle Kraken and NWSL Seattle Reign. It also holds rights pacts with the NBA San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets, and the NHL Colorado Avalanche. The broadcaster also has carve-out deals with MLB for the San Diego Padres, Colorado Rockies, Cleveland Guardians and Arizona Diamondbacks, and MainStreet Sports for the NBA's Indiana Pacers and Minnesota Timberwolves.

Ramsey said that while none of its right deals are the same, there is some level of continuity when it comes to sponsorships and ad sales, which fall into three basic buckets. For the Fever network, the team and TEGNA look to sign high-level sponsorship packages, while TEGNA also delves into spot ad sales opportunities on a more regional basis. Moreover, the company and the station affiliates in the other markets also have "substantial inventory" to pitch on their own. "It's pretty consistent across the buckets," Ramsey said.

Upfront action

Speaking of pitches, TEGNA is in the middle of its upfront season for its local sports holdings that extend to 70 Kraken and Mavericks games apiece. The broadcaster wants to lock in advertising sales ahead of the clubs' 2025-26 seasons.

When it comes to the Kraken, Ramsey said TEGNA handles most of the ad sales in the Pacific Northwest, where the team's games also air on stations owned by Gray Media, Cox Media Group LLC and Morgan Murphy Media.

"This is new for us. We’re going market by market, city by city," said Ramsey, noting there has been a strong appetite among sponsors who want to tie into TEGNA's rights with WNBA, NBA, NHL and MLB teams.

He added that the sports' ad relationships are sparking interest and opening doors to schedules within other TEGNA programming and dayparts.

DTC Fever

In other Fever distribution news, the club netted a direct-to-consumer deal for the 18 regionally available games with Endeavor Streaming. Fever Direct will retail for $29.99 for all of those contests this season, tipping with the May 20 game against the Dream.

Ramsey welcomed the DTC player, noting Endeavor will stream the team's locally produced games, replete with TEGNA's advertising lineup. "It will be the same fan experience for fans with access to more screens," he said. "That also means more eyeballs for advertisers and sponsors."

Endeavor provides game streaming for the Mavericks, NHL Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins, MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates, the University of Texas and has powered WNBA League Pass since 2022.